I have been going under the assumption the Mets will carry no more than 6 pitchers in their bullpen out of camp. This makes it very tight, especially with Fernando Nieve without options, and a deserving pitcher might have to go down.

Yesterday, Jerry Manuel mentioned for the first time that there may be 12 pitchers coming north. This was in reference to Hisanori Takahashi’s performance (3 inn, no runs, 6 K’s) that opened eyes to the coaching staff. Dan Warthen said “Takahashi is fun” and described someone who pitches to both corners, has good movement and knows how to pitch. Who is Takahashi and what could we expect from him? NPB Tracker is always the first place I go to read up on Japanese imports. I grabbed this piece from last November describing Takahashi from 35,000 feet:

- Has an excellent screwball, which he induces grounders and misses bats with; should be a plus pitch at the MLB level as well

- Also has a two-seam fastball, slider and curve; the two-seamer is a pretty good pitch

- No shortage of velocity info on him at our data site (note: screwball shows up as a “sinker” on in our data; two-seam as  “shuuto”)

- Was not a lefty killer in 2009: lefties hit .300 against him (48/160), while holding righties to .250 (99/396)

Newman went on to speculate that Takahashi could be an effective MLB pitcher in the Hideki Okajima mold.

If Takahashi is anything near Okajima than he is worth the Mets taking north. It’s important to note that Takahashi views himself as a starter for what it’s worth. Newman believes he is better suited for the bullpen. Obviously the splits against lefties is a problem since Takahashi (Okajima does very well against LHP) would be the second lefty in the pen and expected to help Pedro Feliciano with the workload.

Bigger question: Should the Mets carry 7 relievers? If so they could come north with Nieve, K-Rod, Calero, Igarashi, Green, Feliciano and either Takahashi or Parnell. The different look, especially the screwball, might translate well here, at least for the first year.

Right now Igarashi and Takahashi make for an interesting “Far East Connection” and might be able to round out a bullpen that has some early promise.

Tags: Hideki Okajima, Hisanori Takahashi, Mets 2010 Bullpen, New York Mets, NPB Tracker